Pretty Girl
by kia L Yori
Summary: Ken confesses his love to Kari. They go out. Violently. TK has to accept this and the fact that he's blamed for some of Kari's Injuries. Oneshot. Rated for language and abuse. Dark.


**Hiya. It's been a while. I just want to let you know that this story is pretty dark. It's a oneshot. There's a sequel, though. I've been working on these for the past two years. Finally figured out how I want to end this one. The other is still up in the air, though.**

* * *

><p><em>Pretty girl is suffering,<em>

It welled up inside. It just kept swelling and swelling, bigger and bigger. Immense was the only way to describe it. Ken was trying to tell her something, Something important.

_while he confesses everything _

"Kari, You have to know." He had said. He had brought her outside, sitting out of the school on a bench. She nodded, not quite expecting a digital emergency, not quite expecting a date request either. Ken confessed, confessed everything to her. He grabbed her shoulders. "Pay attention to me, damnit!" He yelled. Kari's head snapped up from where she had been staring, at her feet.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you Ken. I was just thinking." She said quietly. Ken stood up, In a harsh voice he called Wormmon from where he was running around with Gatomon. With a quick nod, Wormmon came over to Ken and followed him home, without Kari moving an inch.

_Pretty soon she'll figure out what his intentions were about_

From inside the building TK was watching.

"He's up to something Patamon, I just know it." TK told his partner as he turned away from the window.

"Why, what do you think is going on, TK?" Pata replied. TK shrugged.

"It can't be good. I just think he's still dangerous. Who knows if this whole 'turnaround from Digimon Emperor' thing is an act?"

"We can't know. We have no way to find out."

"We have to find out! What if he tries to hurt Kari?"

"TK, it sounds like you really care for Kari."

"Well, yea of course. She's my best friend. I'm closer to her than any of the other digidestined."

"I think you like her."

"No way. Kari and me are just friends."

"Ooh! TK and Kari sitting in a tree!"

"Please stop that. We need to keep an eye on Kari!." TK said, pushing his hands against the glass.

_That's what you get for falling again_

Kari sighed. Now that Ken had confessed, she wasn't sure what to do. Originally she had been thinking of finally asking TK out, but now. . . Maybe she should ask Ken? Kari let her head drop. How could she ever choose?

"Kari, did Ken say something wrong?" Gatomon questioned Kari's thoughtfulness, Kari shook her head.

"No, actually, Ken said something very nice to me." Kari said absently.

"It didn't sound so nice."

"It's alright. Ken just doesn't know how to say things sometimes."

"I don't know, Kari, I don't like him at all."

"You don't have to, Gatomon."

"So you're going to go through with asking TK?"

"No, I'm not going. . . I'm not going to ask anyone out yet."

_You can never get 'em out of your head _

Kari laid in bed that night, not sure what to think of Ken's confession. He had been so sweet to start, why had he turned bitter again?

"I ignored him." Kari whispered as she stroked Gatomon repeatedly. Gatomon opened an eye and stopped her purring.

"Is that why he grabbed your shoulders and yelled at you?" Gatomon whispered back. Kari nodded. "Then he's a jerk."

"Don't say that Gatomon. He's not the digimon emperor anymore. He's just Ken."

"Yes, but even normal guys can be jerks. I'm purr-fectly sure normal Ken still has a lot of bad feelings."

"I think you should just sleep."

"You should to, Kari." Kari paused.

"Ok." Kari hugged Gatomon closer and fell asleep.

_It's the way_

"Kari! Wake up! You'll be late!" Gatomon said, trying to get Kari to wake up.

"Ok, Ok, I'm up." Kari said rubbing her eyes.

"Kari, something's wrong. You don't usually wake up late, even without an alarm clock, and you don't normally have a hard time waking up."

"It's ok. We were just up later than normal. That's all." Kari said as she took her pajama shirt off and went to her drawers to get a new one in the usual style. She looked into the mirror above her dresser and gasped to find bruises on her shoulders. "I wonder where these came from." She mused.

"Ken made those bruises."

"Don't be silly Gatomon. When would Ken have made these?"

"Yesterday. When he grabbed you for ignoring him."

"No, he didn't grab my shoulders that hard."

"Kari! look closer. The bruises are hand-shaped!"

"Gatomon! It's ok. Even if Ken did make them, he didn't mean to."

"Kari, Ken is a jerk!"

"No, he's not! You just don't understand him."

"Or maybe you don't! You can't see him clearly, otherwise you would see to!"

"Maybe you shouldn't come to school with me today."

"I didn't want to."

_That he makes you feel _

"TK, what are you going to say to Kari?" Patamon asked.

"I don't know Patamon. But I'll do my best." TK responded. Patamon nodded. The pair walked around the corner to see Ken hit Kari across the face and start kicking her to the ground.

"What's that supposed to mean? You stupid, insignifigant, ugly, little -" Ken yelled. TK tackled him before he could call Kari another name or kick her down again. Kari stayed down, watching the whole fight. Patamon flew off in the direction of Kari's house. Where else could Gatomon be? Pata flew threw an open window into Kari's room. Gatomon was sleeping on the bed when Patamon dropped onto it, making it move slightly, but just enough to wake Gatomon. Her eyes opened and she looked around, making sure it wasn't Kari's mother.

"Patamon?" She asked, Pata nodded.

"Kari and TK are in trouble!" He said urgently.

"What's going on?" Gatomon deliberated.

"Ken was beating up Kari, then TK and I saw and TK tackled him, now Kari can't even move while those two fight!"

"Kari! I told her Ken was a jerk!"

"Then let's go!" Gatomon paused. "Why aren't you moving? Kari's in trouble!"

"It's just. . . I don't think Kari wants me around."

_It's the way _

Kari laid on the cold cement quietly. This hurt, everything about her hurt right now. In fact, Kari was pretty sure there was no way she could hurt more. Second by second, no pain left her, and her eyes got blurrier and blurrier. A couple tears slid down her face, but she paid no attention to them. Ken and TK were still throwing punches, and Kari heard the school bell go off in the distance.

_That he kisses you _

"How can you treat Kari like that?" TK yelled in between punches.

"Treat who like what?" Ken replied mockingly.

"You Bastard! How can you be so heartless? I thought you liked her!"

"I do like her." Ken said stiffly.

"You probably don't! Look at her Ken! Look at her and tell her you like her, even though she deserves better than scum like you!"

Ken looked over at Kari for the first time in a few minutes. He gasped at the sight of the cold blood coming from her arms and face.

_It's the way _

Kari couldn't see much, the tears were mixing with blood coming from a cut on her face. The blood stung her eyes but the tears washed it away.

Ken dropped his fight with TK and ran to Kari, looking almost like he was about to cry himself.

"Kari! TK!" Gatomon and Patamon ran towards them. Mostly Kari's name was heard, Gatomon was shouting as she ran, yelling Kari's name over and over.

_That he makes you fall in love _

"Kari, are you ok?" Gatomon asked, crying her eyes out.

"Tk, is Kari going to be okay?" Patamon asked. Gatomon turned to face Ken, standing in front of Kari with her arms out.

"Stay away from my Kari!" Gatomon yelled. Ken fell to his knees, his face in his hands. "Get away from her! Go somewhere else!" Gatomon shouted at the dark-haired boy in front of her.

Kari tried to push Gatomon out of the way, once she found herself pushing against thin air as Gatomon stepped away from the feeble attempts, Kari ceased her efforts.

_She's beautiful as usual with bruises on her ego and _

Kari, Ken, Tk, Gato and Pata heard voices. Said voices were coming around the corner, and all heard a gasp as the 'voices' were staring at the bruised and bloody Kari, with Ken kneeling over her, and TK standing around with Patamon and Gatomon on the ground, looking normal but odd in the human world, since cats don't normally walk on two feet and Patamon was just not something you would find in the realm of ordinary.

Kari slowly lost conciousness after that.

_Her killer instinct tells her to beware of evil men_

"Someone call 911!" TK was shouting. A girl who had rounded the corner quickly complied, whipping out her cell and dialing the three numbers. TK took her phone.

"Hello, this is 911, what is the nature of your emergency?" The operator asked.

"I'm at the corner of crescent st. I need and ambulance." Ken let out a sob, carrying both relief and distress. TK glanced over at him and shot him a glare. "And a police officer."

_And that's what you get for falling again _

TK stayed with Ken as the ambulance took Kari away. Only family was allowed to ride with her, and after using the cell to call Tai, the brunette brother took only a couple minutes to arrive by his sister.

Ken was answering questions from the officer about his relationship to Kari. TK would be next, and after that the girls. The officers might question Kari, if, and when she woke up.

"What do you mean 'If she wakes up.'?" TK yelled.

"That girl could wind up in a coma, and sleep for days or weeks, Kid. My guess is, she won't die, but she won't wake up for a while either. What I say is go back home, tell your mom what happened, and we'll come find you." The officer said.

_You can never get 'em out of your head _

"If you want me, I'll be in the hospital. I'm going to make sure Kari is okay." TK said, a cold edge creeping into his voice. He rushed in the direction that the ambulance had taken off in. He ran until he saw the blue 'H' on a sign, and kept running until he reached the white building.

TK bursted through the glass doors, running into the waiting room. People stared as he ran over the the information desk.

_And that's what you get for falling again _

The aged woman behind the dest stared at him, until he yelled.

"Where is Kari Kamiya? Is she alright?" He demanded of the lady. She nodded, and searched for something on the computer. Once she got what she was looking for, she turned to TK.

_You can never get 'em out of your head_

"Room 106." She said, then pointed. "Down that hall." TK nodded in thanks and ran off to see Kari. Patamon flew in with enough time to yell for TK before he rounded the corner.

TK just grabbed Patamon and rushed into the room, Tai, Mr, and Mrs Kamiya stared as he did.

"Is Kari alright?" TK was out of breath as he came into the dark room. Kari had woken up, but Tai, Mrs and Mrs Kamiya were glaring at him.

_It's the way _

"What?" TK asked the angry family as they stared through angry eyes, showing their utmost discontempt at him.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Tai yelled, grabbing TK by the collar. After he regained his breath from being slammed against the hospital wall, he looked Tai straight in the eyes and yelled back.

"It was Ken! Why would you think that I hurt Kari?" TK asked, yelling just as loudly, if not louder then Tai had previously.

"Why would he do that? He's not the digimon emporer anymore, Takeru!" Tai yelled, using TK's full name. Kari looked away, refusing to look at TK

_That he makes you feel _

"I don't know!" TK yelled, "I was just walking to school and I saw him beating the shit out of her!" Mrs Kamiya gasped at TK's foul language, how could she have let her daughter hang around this crude boy? She started her own screaming rant at TK.

_It's the way _

"I don't want you anywhere near her! Get out!" She screeched at the end. TK was taken aback, why couldn't they believe him? Just because he saw her get hurt didn't mean he hurt her. Why did they not trust him all of a sudden?

All he really did was love her.

_That he kisses you _

Four days later, TK wa locking himelf in his room, as was becoming his normal Kari-less attitude. He refused to call anyone by their nicknames, so Kari was now Hikari, Matt was Yamato, Tai was Taichi, Izzy became Koushiro, Davis to Daisuke, Yolei to Miyako, and Cody to Iori, as they had been called at birth. He even introduced himself to a new girl in school as Takeru.

_It's the way _

Most of his friends had accepted it, and began calling themselves by their full names, praying to help Takeru feel better. Hikari wasn't back in school yet, even though Takeru knew for a fact that her parents were forcing her to switch schools. So she didn't go at all.

_That he makes you fall in love _

Takeru sometimes wondered if he could ever find a way to stop the Yagami family(minus Hikari, who wasn't in the least upset. Even though she had only spoken to him over the phone, he felt like he was always thinking she was still around.) from hating him. It hurt to know his chances of ever seeing her again were fairly slim.

_It's the way_

Takeru had found out why everyone blamed him for Hikari's beating. Ken Ichijouji had told the police that he had been the one walking to school, finding Takeru hurting Hikari instead of the other way around. Now everyone gave him second glances in the halls, and his temper flared more than the norm, but it only made him seem that much more likely to commit such a crime.

_That he makes you feel _

Still, he had been perfectly even-tempered before, why couldn't they see he was only operating on such a short fuse because he was stressed? His friends started giving up on him, and when he tried making new friends they never stayed after they heard the rumours.

_It's the way_

Takeru was listening to music one night with one of his earbuds lodged in his ear, the other ear waiting for his mother to call him for supper. He heard a knock at the door, and vaguely wondered who it was, as his mother didn't knock and Yamato was only over every second weekend. With a sigh he concluded that it was probably just the song he waslistening to. He was ignoring it at first but it came again, so he got up and opened the door with a sigh.

_That he kisses you_

The door was opened to reveal two men showing police badges. They looked serious, and Takeru's mother, father and Yamato were both downstairs when Takeru followed the cops down. The two men were abnormally butch, and barked out for everyone to sit down, and they hastily complied. Everyone but Takeru was able to grab a seat.

_It's the way _

The house only really had three spots to sit, as it was usually just Takeru and his mother. Sometimes Hikari, but those days were long past. Takeru temporarily lost himself in memories as he stared at where his brother was sitting.

Unfortunately he was brought back to reality by one of the officers speaking.

"Takeru Takaishi, you are under arrest for the assault and battery of Hikari Yagami on the 4th of May." One of them said as the other cuffed his wrists behind his back.

_That he makes you fall in love_

"You don't have any proof it was me! How can you just arrest me?" Takeru screamed, trying to break free of the hold of one of the officers on his arm.

"We have a Victim's Confession that says you were the one to assault her." The officers remained stoic as the shoved him into the police car outside the apartment.

"Hikari knows it wasn't me! Why would she say I did it? She knows it was Ichijouji!" Takeru hollered.

_Love_

The next day Takeru woke up in his cell. He didn't have much to look forward to. He could just sit and complain all day, or he could just sit.  
>He chose to was a lose-lose situation, what better was there to do?<p>

_Pretty girl, pretty girl _

The days passed by, and Takeru grew silent. Not speaking, not complaining, not accusing, nothing.  
>Just complete silence.<br>It lasted until Ken was found to be guilty. Takeru was a free man once more.

_Pretty girl is suffering, while he confesses everything_

Hikari greeted him on his way out of the holding cell. Running up and hugging him so hard that, between her squeezing and trying to choke back his tears, he could barely breathe.  
>He wanted to hug her back, to be happy that she wasn't Ken's little plaything.<br>But the happiness didn't come, and Takeru remained silent.  
>He was angry, though. Spending several days in a cell hadn't been fun. Especially not when he thought he'd be there for most of his life. All because of her.<p>

_Pretty soon she'll figure out_

"Takeru, I'm sorry. I didn't want anybody to get in trouble and I felt really bad for Ken." She whispered into his shoulder. He shrugged her off, walking away. He didn't care where he went, as long as Hikari didn't follow him there. He heard voices ehind him.  
>"What's wrong, Kari?" Ken asked as Takeru turned around. "Why are you hugging him?"<br>"I'm sorry, TK, I'm so sorry." She sobbed. Ken grabbed her shoulder, and she winced. She dug her nails into Takeru, not willing to let him go. Ken pulled.  
>"Let's go, Kari. You don't want to be near him anymore." Ken said. His anger just kept growing. Ken just kept pulling. Hikari's nails were soon piercing Takeru's skin, through his shirt, as she tried to not be pulled away.<br>"It's not his fault, Ken!" She screamed.

_You can never get 'em out of your head _

Ken was stunned. He paused for a moment, and smiled.  
>"Yes. It is his fault, Kari." She shook her hed violently against Takeru's shoulder, crying. "Yes it is." His voice dropped to a whisper. "At least, that what you told the police."<p>

_It's the way _

Ken pulled softly on her shoulder once more, and she let go of Takeru and followed him easily. He grabbed her hand and walked away with her.

_That he makes you cry _

Takeru stood there, not thinking anything for a moment. By the time he had regained his senses, they were long gone.

_It's the way_

Takeru went home. Thoughts of Hikari as Ken's little lapdog ran through his mind. Ken pulling her around on a leash and collar, Kari following silently, eyes on the ground. Ken smacking her around, Ken calling her names. Hikari apologizing for everything she had done wrong.

_That he in your mind _

And as the months went by, and Takeru's depression truly manifested itself, these became the things he saw around town. Kari and Ken, walking. Ken and Kari, shaing some insults.  
>Ken and Kari, Ken and Kari, Ken and Kari.<p>

_It's the way _

It wasn't right. She couln't be happy, submitting to Ken as he saw fit.

_That he makes you fall in love _

She came to school with bruises, cuts, and eventually, scars.

_It's the way_

She made up excuses as to why they were there.

_That he makes you feel _

All of this ate away at Takeru, until he knew what was coming, and just watched.

_It's the way _

He lived with this. He saw everything. He saw the cuts on Hikari's wrists, almost heard her thoughts.

_That he kisses you _

"Why am I not good enough? Why does he do this? Why couldn't I do it right? Why did I ask for it? I can never do things right. I'm sorry."

_It's the way _

After a few months, Hikari stopped speaking. She lost her voice, and she held her eyes down. She didn't have to explain herself to Ken anymore. He knew what she did, where she went wrong, what she'd forgotten. And he knew how to fix it. But it just kept happening. Takeru knew all this, and he just kept watching. He tried and failed to talk to her, because everytime he tried, Ken knew, and Ken put a stop to it. Eventually she stopped going outside.

_That he makes you fall in love_

A year later, Takeru was quietly walking down the road. Kari was on the other side of the street, watching him. He waved, and she looked away. She looked pale and thin, her eyes had dark shadows underneath. She was wearing baggy clothes. He kept walking. He walked home, mind racing.

_Love_

The next morning, Takeru walked outside, ready for school. He talked to Patamon solemly, explaining the events of yesterday, and Hikari's glance.  
>"Maybe she left Ken?" Patamon said, hopefully.<br>"I doubt it." Takeru answered. The rest of the walk was quiet, until a few blocks from the school, they saw Gatomon panicking.  
>"Have you seen Kari?" The poor Digimon cried. Takeru mentioned how he had seen her yesterday, but that was it. "She ran away from home. Everyone's looking for her!" Takeru swore, and Patamon and Gatomon took off to start looking. Takeru went to the place he had seen yesterday. Not there. He called her name. He ran across town, looking.<br>He saw her, eventually. On top of a motorway bridge.  
>He ran up as quickly as he could. She looked calm, almost happy. He got there, and she smiled at him. She choked out an apology. He stood there, holding her, and told her it was okay. She smiled at him, tears starting to run from her eyes.<br>"Why did you leave home?" He asked.  
>"I didn't mean to make them think I left. I just wanted to go out." She said sadly.<br>"Why not just say something?" He asked.  
>"I couldn't." She said. "I couldn't." She watched over the motorway below. "I'm, sorry, TK."<br>"It's okay, Kari. It's okay." He said.  
>"Can you go tell my parents and Tai that I'm okay? I just wanted to be out." She asked weakly.<br>"Okay, okay. Anything you want. I'll be back in a little while, okay?" He said, hugging her. He kissed her forehead. "I love you." He ran off, to find her parents.  
>Off of the bridge, he looked back up at her. She was waving goodbye, so he waved back and ran off.<p>

When he came back with Kari's family, she wasn't there anymore. On the highway below, was an ambulance and a police roadblock.  
>Kari had thrown herself off the bridge.<p> 


End file.
